Many floras and guides to grasses say that this is a plant of dry places but this was growing with its feet in water in a small trackside ditch. Other field botanists have noted that this is a plant which doesn't read the guides and chooses to grow in the wrong places. Like all Agrostis species there is variability and the florets are tiny so from a distance the panicles have a brown misty appearance. In this case there are usually awns which were present on the plants at this site - but to make identification difficult the awns do fall off as the flower spike ripens. It also should have rhizomes which again we found on these plants rather than stolons on the quite similar Agrostis canina (Velvet Bent).

They were also a lot taller than the "book" height. The one I brought home was of average height in the community from which it was taken where there were hundreds. It was 132 cm tall - but should be up to 60 cm according to Stace.

Agrostis vinealis has a western distribution being common in Wales, Cornwall and western Scotland but there is a good amount in east Anglia too. It is common in Ireland only in the extreme south.

By track into Langden valley, Trough of Bowland 15th and 18th July 2013, updated 28th December 2013

Added on 21st July 2013